PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1921. 43 
409,683,000, or an average annual ouput of 34,140,250. Practically 
all of these fry in each instance were distributed on local spawning 
grounds. In view of the conditions that exist in other shad streams 
where artificial propagation is not conducted, it seems but just to as- 
sume that the hatcheries have been a factor in maintaining the shad 
fisheries in their vicinity. 
The bureau is frequently importuned by State officials and others 
to render assistance in restocking depleted shad streams by planting 
therein a portion of the output of its two hatcheries. In their efforts 
to obtain this assistance the illogical argument has been advanced 
that the shad hatcheries, being the property of the Federal Govern- 
ment and supported by public funds, should apportion their output 
in accordance with public demands and without regard to the source 
of supply. Were the bureau to be influenced by such reasoning it 
would result in dividing the comparatively small output of its two 
hatcheries among various States along the Atlantic seaboard. The 
numbers allotted in any instance would be negligible, and such a 
course would inevitably result disastrously to the fisheries in the 
waters in which hatchery operations are now conducted. 
For many years the bureau followed the policy of making sys- 
tematic plants of shad fry in the principal shad rivers and tribu- 
tary streams along the Atlantic seaboard, but the results did not 
justify a continuance of such efforts, because the States concerned 
did little or nothing for the protection of the species, and with the 
rapid and constant increase in fishing operations and fishing devices 
the run constantly lessened. Finally, in order to maintain the 
dwindling supply in home waters the bureau found it necessary to 
discontinue shipments to outside points and return to the local 
spawning grounds the entire product of its shad hatcheries. 
The status of the shad fisheries at the present time is precarious in 
the extreme, fully warranting the adoption of drastic measures if 
they are to be saved from total and early extinction. In spite of the 
discouraging situation, however, the States most nearly concerned 
have thus far appeared loath to take any decidedly aggressive action 
toward safeguarding or increasing the run. 
While the falling off of the shad run in many Atlantic coastal 
rivers and their total disappearance in others are due to several 
causes, the chief factor involved would seem to be a total lack of 
protection during the spawning season. As a result of the extensive 
fishing operations near the mouths of such streams and in the salt 
and brackish waters below very few shad are able to reach their 
spawning grounds. The considerable amount of trade waste enter- 
ing the streams has also had a deleterious effect. 
The collection of shad eggs in the Potomac, at the Bryans Point 
(Md.) station, fell considerably below that of a normal season, 
amounting to only 15,620,000. During February and March the 
weather was unusually mild, with high water temperatures, the 
maximum in March being 64° F., with a mean temperature of 52° F. 
As a result, spawning shad were taken unusually early, and 316,000 
eggs were secured during that month. Weather conditions in April 
were a reversal of those in March, with equally unfavorable results 
to the work, and the season was brought to an early close on May 9. 
Approximately 1,110,000 of the eggs secured were sent to central 
